Patient Education Program, Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), 525 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2L3, Canada; Cancer Health Literacy Research Center, Cancer Education, Princess Margaret Cancer Center, 585 University Avenue, ELLICSR PMB B-130, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2N2, Canada; University of Toronto, 27 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A1, Canada.
Cancer Health Literacy Research Center, Cancer Education, Princess Margaret Cancer Center, 585 University Avenue, ELLICSR PMB B-130, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2N2, Canada.
Patient Educ Couns. 2021 Jun;104(6):1398-1405. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.11.017. Epub 2020 Nov 17.
The development of patient education (PE) materials is costly and resource-intensive, and no mechanisms exist for sharing materials across cancer centers/hospitals to limit duplicated effort. The aim of this study was to explore the incidence and cost implication of duplicated PE efforts.
PE leaders from all (14) cancer centers in Ontario, Canada, submitted their collections of systemic therapy PE materials. Materials were categorized by topic and were coded as duplicate (more than one other material exists on the same topic and there was significant content and/or textual overlap), adapted (material was adapted from an existing material) or unique (no other material addresses the topic).
304 materials were included and <50 % of materials had duplicate content (n = 166, 55 %), a small proportion were adapted (n = 27, 9%), and less than half were unique (n = 111, 37 %). The majority of materials were considered amenable to adaptation meaning that the content was not dependent on a specific institutional context (n = 283, 93 %). The opportunity for cost savings if duplication of effort could be avoided is approximately $800 K for systemic therapy materials produced in cancer centers.
There is need to refine the process for developing PE materials. Creating mechanisms of sharing can help facilitate equal access to materials and can result in significant cost savings.
Efforts are needed to better coordinate the development of PE materials among patient educators. Better coordination would allow patient education programs to focus on other important challenges.
患者教育（PE）材料的开发既昂贵又需要大量资源，并且没有跨癌症中心/医院共享材料的机制，以限制重复工作。本研究旨在探讨重复 PE 工作的发生率和成本影响。
加拿大安大略省所有（14）家癌症中心的 PE 负责人提交了他们的系统治疗 PE 材料集。根据主题对材料进行分类，并将其编码为重复（针对同一主题存在不止一种其他材料，并且存在显著的内容和/或文本重叠）、改编（材料是从现有材料改编而来）或独特（没有其他材料涉及该主题）。
共纳入 304 份材料，<50%的材料存在重复内容（n=166，55%），一小部分是改编的（n=27，9%），不到一半是独特的（n=111，37%）。大多数材料被认为适合改编，这意味着内容不依赖于特定的机构背景（n=283，93%）。如果可以避免重复工作，避免重复工作的机会可以节省大约 80 万加元用于癌症中心制作的系统治疗材料的成本。
需要改进开发 PE 材料的流程。创建共享机制可以帮助公平地获得材料，并可以节省大量成本。
需要努力更好地协调患者教育工作者之间的 PE 材料开发。更好的协调将使患者教育计划能够专注于其他重要挑战。
